With Matchweek 1 in the books, it's time to review which players sparkled the brightest as the A-League closed out the year 2020 and opened the doors on its 16th season.
After Western United and Adelaide United got the ball rolling with a high-octane goalless draw in the A-League curtain raiser, Connor Metcalfe struck the first goal of the new campaign as Melbourne City edged Brisbane Roar, 1-0.
Then captain Mark Milligan wrote his name into Macarthur FC folklore with the decisive goal in the Bulls' historic first match, a 1-0 win over their new neighbourly rivals, Western Sydney Wanderers.
And Central Coast Mariners wrapped up Matchweek 1 in style, seeing in the new year with a 1-0 win against their F3 rivals the Newcastle Jets.
This is the line-up of players that performed the best as scored by Opta's statistical model.
Team of the Week, powered by Bunnings Warehouse – Matchweek 1
Adam Federici (Macarthur FC) – 91.0
Made six saves in Macarthur FC's first A-League win, the most by any goalkeeper in Matchweek 1.
Ryan Strain (Adelaide United) – 73.0
Made 15 passes into the final third in Matchweek 1, more than any other player, as well as a round-high 27 carries.
Tomoki Imai (Western United) – 72.0
Made the second most carries (23) and the joint-second most clearances (nine) of any player in Matchweek 1 of this A-League season.
Noah Smith (Adelaide United) – 72.0
Made six clearances, contested nine duels and made five crosses in open play.
Ivan Franjic (Macarthur FC) – 73.0
Franjic was the only player with a perfect accuracy (4/4 - 100%) on his open play crosses in Matchweek 1. He also contested five duels.
Connor Metcalfe (Melbourne City) – 84.0
Scored the first goal of the 2020/21 A-League season, made 31 passes for a 90.3% accuracy and had four touches in the opposition box.
Jay O'Shea (Brisbane Roar) – 82.0
Made a team-high three tackles, created three scoring chances and 63 passes for a 84.1% accuracy.
Aiden O'Neill (Melbourne City) – 79.0
Made a joint-team high three interceptions, 68 passes for a 91.2% accuracy and created two scoring chances.
Mark Milligan (Western United) – 78.0
Scored Macarthur FC's first goal in A-League history, made 59 passes for a 88.1% success rate and contested 11 duels.
Alou Kuol (Central Coast Mariners) – 92.0
Had the most shots on target (three) of any player in Matchweek 1 from which he scored one goal. Kuol also had five touches in the opposition box.
Ramy Najjarine (Newcastle Jets) – 64.0
No player completed more dribbles in Matchweek 1 than Najjarine (three). The Jets' forward also created two scoring chances.
The index uses Opta’s granular data to create a ranking score for each player, seeing an increase in their index for positive actions and a decrease for negative actions.
